She stepped into the room to inspect her work and smiled. Preparations for this year's writing challenge had been beyond exhausting but worth it. The room finally looked perfect. The dust bunnies had finally been defeated, but she didn't own an old Indiana Jones Halloween costume for nothing. The storm of paper on the desk had been sorted, filed, cleared, and the necessary had been shredded. There was a new cushion in the old roller desk chair to make for comfortable nights. This year nothing could go wrong.
Everything was perfect.
She had even learned how to drink cold, bitter coffee just like real writers are supposed to slug down when the words just wouldn't come.
It had been a tiresome trek working like an absolute fiend attempting to get everything right.
Too many self-help books had been devoured along with too many audio books that were assigned for inspiration.
The new checklist had a mark in every box:
1. frozen meals prepared for those long November nights2. extra dog food was purchased so the pooches wouldn't go hungry
3. mail had been forwarded to reduce distraction
4. phone set to go automatically to voicemail
5. basic plot outlined
6. characters sketches complete
7. new battery for the laptop, just in case
8. extra lightbulbs procured for the solitary lamp
Now all she had to do was check her calendar and wait for NaNo to arrive. Just like Christmas, it arrived every year.
Then it was time to actually check the calendar.
Wait a minute. 2015? When had that happened? The last time she remembered looking at the calendar it was 2013?
Now what?
At least the room was ready for the white glove inspection, even if the rest of her life was not.
